What to do about this sloped garden?

[ThisMustBeMyDream]

I have viewed my first house today. I was the first to view, and there has been no mention of other viewers. I'm sure they will get more viewings though. The owners were lovely, and we found a personal connection (I was the midwife to one of their grandchildren), she was even on the phone to her next door neighbour whilst we were there telling them all about us and telling us how lovely the neighbour was . So I almost feel like this house was meant to be ours in some silly kind of way .
So, there are some small things we would need to do to make it work for us. But there is one big thing, and it might be a deal breaker. There is land to the side of the house, which isn't incorporated in to the back garden. The owners told me that it was because they couldn't be bothered to level it out. But I'm not sure if we even can. I've attached pictures of the land from street view, and from the current rightmove listing. The owners have recently taken out the bushes and laid turf to the side, as you can see from RM. It is leasehold, and I don't know a lot, but I know there are things like covenants. Is there a way to find out before starting the legal process? Or is asking the owners the only way? I'm going to pop a note through with my number later as the estate agents never answer the phone (I had to go their this morning to sort the flipping viewing). She said we can come for a second viewing any time, which is what I'd like to arrange, and I can ask those kind if questions then. I just wondered if any wise Mnetters had any ideas!

What? There would be no steepness,we want it leveled. Not steep. I don't understand the story about the person hurting themselves. It doesn't relate to what I'm asking.

This is the RM pic, didn't attach on the first pics. Just realised.

That much of a slope cannot be levelled. if you take the level of the earth up to match the house, you'll have to move many tonnes of earth with a giant retaining wall to hold it back like you see alongside cuttings on the motorway. if you want to lower the garden, you'll have a lot of steps down from your house exposing your foundations. either option would cost £££££££ and need council permissions / building regs that you wouldn't get.

if you buy this house, you have to live with the slope.

Have you downloaded the title plans?

It looks as though that could just be common ground in the estate so I'd want to confirm they own that and have the right to make any changes before you go any further.

They can be downloaded for a few £

With estate houses like that, there is very often a clause in the lease that front gardens must remain open/have no or very low hedges. It looks to me like that would include the side area you want to incorporate into the back garden. Check this out carefully- your solicitor should pick it up, and the estate agent should be able to tell you.

You could move the fence nearer to the boundary, leaving a gap between it and the retaining wall. It would be a considerable expense and disruption to dig out foundations for and build a retaining wall so you could "infill" the sloping area with decking? Would that be an option?

Our back garden is a huge slope uphill from the house, to the point that the top of the garden is level with the roof of the house.

We have it in big terraces, like a plantation on the side of a mountain almost, as that's the only way to make it a useable space.

Having seen the RM photo I'm not sure whether you intend to level the entire slope (almost impossible I'd say), but it doesn't actually look like that'd be your land. I'd keep looking I think if the garden is a deal breaker.

I don't know whether the house is advertised as a 3 or 4 bed, but to my mind it's definitely a standard 3 bed with 2 reception rooms, I don't think it can be genuinely sold as a 4 bed with a 4 bed price....incase that has any bearing on what you're paying.

We terraced our sloping garden. Dug down to the lowest level and used gabions to retain the upper part. We did most of the work ourselves so it wasn't too expensive.

Unless there are no other houses at all in your price range you need to stop all of the sentiment and make an emotion free decision. We bought a sloping garden but it was the only way we could afford the house itself. We have a huge decking area now across the entire width of the downward sloping back garden. Only buy the house if you will put up with the small back garden

It definitely could be levelled, we've just done similar in order to create a driveway and garage. You would probably just need a higher retaining wall and for it to be filled in. I think it would be quite costly to do so though. I wonder if you could move fence to the wall line and then have decking that's sort of stilted at the sides so it is evened out? So you end up with a triangular space underneath the decking if you see what I mean?

You won’t get planning to move the fence as it’s too near the road, and that’s without the leasehold company having a say. You can’t do what you want with this house, you can’t level or make the garden bigger, you need to look elsewhere.

The appeal is it is in the right location, for the right price, with the right number of reception spaces and bedrooms for what we need. Otherwise I wouldn't be considering it! I had thought we may only be able to get a 3 bed extended semi as they seem to be at the price I can afford, however this is detached and has access to the rear which most extended semis here don't

And the reason for that is because it has a massive compromise with a small backgarden and a sloped area that can't be remedied. I cannot believe the council would give you permission to raise the height of your boundary wall so that it's high enough to retain the soil that would be needed. And you can't dig down because you'd expose your foundations.

Have you got a friendly builder you can ask to drive by and have a quick look for you but I bet that's the answer you get!!

I don’t want to be negative, but I think you should start by downloading the title packs before you consider your slope issue. Regardless as to whether or not 50% of the houses are leasehold locally, all leases are not equal and an absent landlord is a nightmare. There will be two titles - one the freeholder owns and the second the leaseholder (current vendor) they are £3 each from the LR. Read the covenants carefully. You then need to establish how long is left on the lease. Too short (normally circa72yrs or less) and it may not be mortgageable assuming you need one. You also need to check if your lease leaves you with the possibility of having to pay for works to communal areas. And also consider if your lease were to be sold at a fair but nevertheless a price you cannot afford (you would get first refusal) and the GR starts creeping up with the introduction of maintenance charges etc? Purchasing of freeholds is very buoyant at an auction because of the potential to earn money for not doing a lot - granting permissions, maintenance charges, insurance organisation etc. remember if you don’t own the land your house is on, the freeholder has to organise insurance and you have to pay what they decide is a fair cost (often with a commission payable to them too). If you take advice, think the terms are fair and start to proceed then I’d get some quotes for the land, but given the lease, proximity to the public path and the significance of the degree of sloping, I’d say it would not be cheap.

I suggest you asking on FB pages local to Redditch re the slope.

Redditch has a lot of houses with slopped gardens where levelling off and retaining walls are used. There maybe someone on that forum who can tell you how easy or hard it would be.

I think for me though, given that it’s leasehold and given that there a few others compromises on the house (needing the second shed, small kitchen, non useable loft space), then I’d be reluctant with this purchase as even if the levelling our was easy, you are reliant on the lease owner to say yes. Ask yourself what would happen if they say no

Good luck!

The owners were lovely, and we found a personal connection (I was the midwife to one of their grandchildren), she was even on the phone to her next door neighbour whilst we were there telling them all about us and telling us how lovely the neighbour was

I'd try to be bit more pragmatic and dispassionate at this stage if you can. It sounds to me as if the vendor is very keen to sell and knew which buttons to press with you!

The thing with leasehold is to find out what the terms are for the freeholder increasing your ground rent. Some are allowed to double every year for example, and even if the current freeholder has shown no sign of doing that, they could sell to an investor who would.

I think levelling that side bit would be an enormous feat of engineering if even allowed - you would need to get specialist engineers to work out what sort of retaining wall you would need to support the absolutely enormous amounts of extra soil you'd be bringing in, and you'd very possibly need to replace the existing wall completely in order to be safe. If it was easy and straightforward the developer would have done it to begin with.

Is the garden really unusable as it is? I think if I were you I'd just put up with a slightly smaller back garden and probably make better use of the front garden if it's not a busy road.

@ThisMustBeMyDream

What?! You've never heard that houses are either freehold or leasehold? Really? It is basic home owning knowledge. Nothing to run from!

leaseholds are not a good idea, and are fairly rare on detached houses. Much mor ecommon on flats.

Now the lease is £75, but if that lease was ever to be sold on, then you could face much higher charges.

Legally leaseholders can apply to buy the lease form the freeholder. I am amazed that that has not happened on this house.

as to the garden.
You would need either to put in a retaining wall on the street edge, or one in the garden and then have a 2 level garden (which could work)
That is quite a height difference and it would be a big structural job to put in a retaining wall in that way.
The other option is to step the garden, so thinner terraces. Lovely for flowers or vegetables, but not so good for kids playing.

So I had a second viewing today. I do think it has lots of potential. I have the title deeds (thanks PP who suggested it). No covenants as far as I can see that would cause issue. It also confirms the land comes with the house.
I have a builder coming tomorrow to take a look, luckily he agreed (he is doing my new kitchen in 3 weeks, so I'm sure he can see plenty more work coming his way soon ) at the last minute, so that will help in the decision making process.
We actually measured the area - it is actually 5m wide, and the area we would look to incorporate runs 12m, so it wouldn't be the entire side length.
It also isn't as steep as it looks on the pics (or from memory!). I've attached some pictures that might help.
I (and DP) have drawn some ideas on paper. We are thinking of retaining the area outside the patio as is, it is fairly flat. Then doing railway sleepers as a retaining wall with steps down, and that whole area would then be on one level. The side of the house is south facing, so it would be a lovely area. I'm just not sure on how it would work with fencing yet to retain privacy in the upper part. Hopefully the builder can give me some ideas there.
I'll attached the pics over 2 posts.
Please feel free to share any helpful thoughts! And sorry if the drawing is crap. It is to scale though so hopefully it will make sense!

Taken from the title deeds.

You might want to check with the local planning authority that the land is actually classed as garden. Estates are often laid out with amenity space. The developers sell it as part of the plot implying that it's garden because the don't want the maintenance hassle. If it's amenity space you would need a change of use planning application to actually use it as garden. There was an example of this just last week in the news where a couple had planted up a vegetable garden and got into trouble with their council.

I agree - you should check with the council. You may not be allowed a taller fence or wall right at the border next to the path because of sight lines for drivers around the corner.

Also check with the planning authority that you would be able to have a fence at the edge. Normally the limit is 6ft high, but much lower on corners for traffic visibility

We have considered the corners for visibility in the plans, that's why we aren't going the full length. There will definitely be no issue with visibility.
How does one "check with the council"? Can I do that without being the owner? Is there a department to just call and ask, or is it ridiculously long winded? I need to make an offer soon or it won't even be an option.

What's the length remaining on the lease?
What are the terms for increasing the rent?
Are there any onerous covenants or restrictions?

Most planning departments will have a pre-application service (usually paid for). If you look on the planning pages on the council website you should find more information.
Usually you'll need to send them a plan of the site and what you want to do with it like you've done on here. They'll be able to give an informal opinion whether you'd need and/or get planning permission.